Hello everyone who has been touched by the story of Zana and Nadia and angry at the dispicable acts of the father Muthana (forgive my spelling, I have forgotten the exact spelling of his name). I have read EVERYTHING about this case starting with a
video that was posted on YouTube. I have read both of Zana's books and also the Mother's book "No Mercy". I have searched the internet for everything I could find on this case, and also wrote the author Mr. Croft to confirm to me that Nadia was indeed
back in the UK. I amnot going to make this too long. But over the last few days, after reading a few new updates on this case, I have come to a couple of conclusions.

1) Muthana is an asshole of the first order. I apologize for this bad language, but I want to get the picture across. He has not cared anything about any of his children. All the children were born out of wedlock and because Muthana had to have the
sex he felt was his due, even though he was not legally married to the mother. He was abusive to the mother and did not tell her about sending away the first two children to Yemen. Imagine the heartache this caused in the mother. He also did not tell
the truth when he SOLD Zana and Nadia off for a "holiday".

2) Muthana loved Nadia. I believe she is the ONLY child that he loved. He did not like that Zana hung around with the blacks and I don't think he loved Zana. Her making friends with the blacks created more dislike for her. He arranged the marriage
for Nadia in a decent fashion, of course not without getting a good sum of money for the marriage, and he also informed Nadia what was happening, showing her a picture of her future husband. He probably also filled her full of some lies about the Muslim
religion instructing her to be a good muslim wife. She was pliable enough to follow the whole plan and loved her father enough to be able to endure the whole ordeal and eventually was able to get along with the husband and love her children and blend
into the Yemeni society and their ways.

3) Zana was NOT informed that she was going to be SOLD into slavery. Muthana extracted money for this selling of her as a slave wife to some ugly, sick muslim boy, who could not get a wife to have sex with any other way. What she endured was enough to
kill someone, and in fact she did try to take her life a couple of times. Her only salvation was her love for Nadia and getting the both of them out of this backward village. However, the way I see it is that Nadia BETRAYED Zana. She never fully
revealed that slowly slowly she was taking to the life as a muslim wife. She was probably treated better by all the rest of the family than was Zana, because Zana was having none of their evil deeds of keeping her a prisoner.

So, this is some of what I think is at the core of this whole thing.

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Will this post

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On Monday, April 3, 2000 at 8:00:00 AM UTC+1, Ruth_NP7 wrote:

I am not familiar with international human rights laws at all,
and wanted to know if anyone here could help us in this case. I
personally think it is disgraceful that successive British
governments have washed their hands of Nadia, when she should
have been given protection as a full British citizen. We need to
rescue Nadia before it is too late for her.

This is the sad story:-

Born and brought up in Birmingham UK, and British Citizens, Nadia
Muhsen and her sister Zana were sold as child brides, at the
tender ages of 14 and 15, by their father, in 1980.
Both girls were led to believe that they were going on few weeks'
holiday of a lifetime, to visit the homeland of their father
(Yemen). Instead, they were stepping into a nightmare...
unbeknown to them, they had both been sold by their father to
Yemen tribesmen. Once in Yemen, they were taken into one of the
remotest and most inaccessible and dangerous parts of the
country, the mountainous area of the Mokbana... there, they were
taken to live in primitive villages; they were told they were
'married' to local boys (although there was never ever any
'marriage' that took place)... they were forced to sleep with
these boys (this amounts to RAPE)... they were forced to live
just like the native village women, fetching and carrying water
numerous times every day, working in the fields, cooking,
cleaning - a life of slavery and drudgery... with nobody to help
them. They were beaten if they disobeyed orders. They did not
even speak the language (Arabic)... however, they gradually had
to adapt, as they could only speak to each other in English. They
had no access to modern amenities or conveniences... no access to
doctors... they had to give birth on the dirt floors of their
'houses'... with no medical help, only the village women in
attendance. The birth of Nadia's second child was complicated and
involved her having to be cut with a dirty (unsterilised) knife
by one of the village women... Nadia was left with an infection
from the knife, and has suffered complications ever since, and
now walks with a limp.
At 14 and 15, Nadia and Zana should have still been enjoying
growing up in Birmingham England, with hardly a care in the
world. Instead they had to wait for YEARS before help came to
them, in 1987, in the form of their mother Miriam, who had
initially had no idea of what had happened to her daughters, and
had been driven to distraction trying to find out and trying to
find someone who could help her. Miriam got the press involved,
and some reporters managed to travel out to the remote villages
and talk to and photograph the girls (you can see their
shockingly sad pictures on this web page
(http://web.infiniweb.ca/nadia))... Nadia and Zana then thought
that they would be rescued and taken back home to the UK, but
unbelievably this was not to be. Miriam was forced to leave them
there, because of the legalities of the case... she was told that
Zana and Nadia were officially married and were, according to
Yemeni law, the properties of their 'husbands'. There was also
the added problem of the children (Zana had one baby son, Nadia
had 2 children at that stage, a boy and a girl)... they were told
that even if they were allowed to go back to the UK, they would
not be able to take their children. With the help of their
mother, doing all she could back in the UK to get help for them,
it eventually transpired that after 8 years of hell, Zana was
able to come out of Yemen, BUT she had to leave her baby son
behind. This was an awful decision for Zana, but she had always
known that this would probably happen and she had tried her best
not to bond with her baby for that very reason. Nadia, on the
other hand, had a four year old boy (who had some idea of what
was happening and who begged his mother not to go), and she also
had a baby girl, so it was much harder for her. She could not
bring herself to leave her children. Therefore, Nadia had to
remain a prisoner.
Back in the UK, free at last but without her baby and her beloved
sister, Zana Muhsen started a fierce campaign, together with her
mother, to try to get Nadia and the kids out. Zana wrote a book
about the experience, 'Sold!', which sold millions of copies
worldwide. However, despite all the press coverage, despite all
the outrage at what happened to them, despite all the support
they have received from many, many people all over the world...
despite this, Nadia remains in Yemen to this day - unable to see
her family, unable to come home, unable to speak her mind...
Nadia is, in effect, the prisoner of her 'husband' and his
tribe... she is bullied and pressurised beyond belief by these
men every time the press wish to interview her... she is forced
to tell incredible lies... she is threatened with losing her
children (she now has 6), amongst other things, if she dares to
talk of wanting to come back to England. She is also in very
precarious health, weighs 6 stone and has a host of medical
complaints that have never been seen to.

What friends and supporters want for Nadia:-
We want justice for Nadia, because, as of yet, Nadia has received
none. Nadia is, and always has been, a British Citizen, yet she
has received none of the protection owed to her by right, from
successive British Governments. She has been denied her freedom
of choice, even for the very basic things in her life. She has
been denied her basic human rights. She has had her life of
drudgery forced upon her. From the age of 14, she has had to live
her life in the shadow of pain and fear, far away from those who
love her. Nadia has now been in Yemen for 20 years, but when she
talks in English she still sounds like a native Brummie (she
still has a strong Birmingham accent)... a reminder that she is a
native of Birmingham, a native of Britain, and she should be
allowed to return to Britain with her children if she so wishes,
even if it is just for a visit to her family.
We want Nadia to be allowed to make that choice, without fear and
without pressure. She should be allowed to make that decision in
peace, and in the safety of a neutral place. And whatever Nadia's
decision is, it should be respected by all.

If you want to participate or just leave a message of support for
Nadia's family, please light a candle for her on the webpage http://web.infiniweb.ca/nadia. Or you can visit the Nadia Muhsen
message board at http://www.insidetheweb.com/mbs.cgi/mb197325.

Thanks for your time.

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